The
teenager posted the photos on or around January 30. Eventually, word spread to a school
resource officer, who contacted the girl and her mother.

Police
in James City County, Virginia later confiscated the phone and
charged the girl with one count of distributing child pornography.

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"It's
not just friends that see what they post but also strangers and
everyone else out there," Stephanie Williams-Ortery, a spokeswoman
for the James City County Police Department, told WAVY.com. "You
have no idea who's out there watching. You never know who's going
to see what you post."

And
it's not just the girl who could end up in trouble; her underage
friends might be charged for forwarding the pictures.

"I
would hope that they would not then forward it on to their friends
because then they become guilty also of distribution of child
pornography, whether they know that or not," Williams-Ortery said.

If
convicted, the girl will mostly likely have to attend a
court-mandated
sexting education program and will avoid having to register as a sex
offender. There is a chance, however, that she could be sent to jail (the mandatory minimum in the U.S. for distributing child pornography is five years).